Some of our
Favorite Sites:
Amazon.com
DVDPlanet.com
Dusty Groove America
Electronics Boutique
AreYouGame.com
Buy.com
Best Buy
Ritz Camera
Wal-Mart
Crutchfield.com



Do your homework. Without the benefit of the touch-and-feel experience, online shoppers must be that much more diligent about product research. Read what other consumers are saying about their PDAs, golf clubs, toasters and everything else at epinions.com. For tech items, stick with cnet.com. There's also plenty of free, thoughtful advice at consumerreview.com. At consumerreports.org, some content is free—including a guide to online shopping, posted under Consumer Advice. Other reports on specific products (DVD players, vacuum cleaners) require a paid subscription ($24 a year or $3.95 a month).


For books, music, movies and video games, Amazon.com always leaps to mind. But there are alternatives. Dvdplanet.com stocks 3.5 million movies at cut-rate prices (Sexy Beast on DVD, for example, was $2 less than at Amazon). You'll also find the Criterion Collection of films by Fellini, Hitchcock and others. For music, visit dustygroove.com, a site fanatically devoted to soul, funk and jazz with a big Brazilian selection too. Got gamers on your list? Ebgames.com neatly organizes its vast inventory by platform (PC, X box, Game Boy, GameCube, PlayStation2) and has hundreds of pre-owned games for older systems like Sega Genesis. For the traditionalist, areyougame.com sells all the low-tech classics, including 43 versions of Monopoly. For MP3 players and other electronics, go to buy.com, an online-only mall that's easy to search, or bestbuy.com, which lets you order online and pick up at the store—great if you can't wait for delivery. Ritzcamera.com has something for every shutterbug, while Crutchfield.com is great for DVD players and other home-theater equipment. And don't overlook walmart.com. It's teeming with DVDs and CDs, and by visiting this mammoth retailer online, you're less likely to get lost in the aisles.

NEXT: Best Inventions of 2002




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FROM THE NOV. 18, 2002 ISSUE OF TIME MAGAZINE; POSTED SUNDAY, NOV. 10, 2002

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